Texas ecoregion · 36 counties

High Plains wildlife management

Shortgrass prairie, playa lakes, and mule deer country on the Llano Estacado.

Counties
36 of 254
Flagship species
Mule deer and playa waterfowl
Appraisal regions
2 · 25–50 ac
Districts publishing a figure
1 of 36

The High Plains on the ground

The High Plains of the Panhandle and South Plains are flat shortgrass prairie over the Ogallala Aquifer, dotted with more than 19,000 playa lakes — shallow seasonal wetlands that host hundreds of thousands of wintering waterfowl and cranes. Wildlife management here often pairs playa restoration with lesser prairie-chicken, quail, and mule deer habitat work on retired farmland.

Mule deer work the breaks and CRP grasslands while whitetails follow the creek systems; playa lake restoration is among the highest-value practices an appraisal district will see on a High Plains management plan. Typical target species for plans in this region include mule deer, pronghorn, scaled quail, lesser prairie-chicken, sandhill cranes, native grassland songbirds, and wintering waterfowl on playas.

What limits wildlife here

A wildlife management plan is most convincing when it takes on the problems that actually constrain wildlife in its region rather than listing generic good deeds. In the High Plains, those are playa sedimentation from cropland runoff, declining aquifer and shelterbelts, and conversion of CRP grassland back to row crops — and each one is a practice waiting to be written down. A plan that names a real local problem, commits to work at regional intensity, and documents it is the plan that gets approved and stays approved.

Start with three

You need at least three of the seven qualifying practices each year under Texas Tax Code §23.51(7). For most High Plains landowners the natural opening three are habitat control, supplemental water and census counts: habitat control is where the real management happens, water is the quickest to install and the easiest to photograph, and a census generates dated evidence every single year. You can change which three you run as the land changes — the statute asks for three practices performed and documented, not three particular practices forever.

The seven practices, High Plains-style

Every Texas plan draws from the same seven practices. What changes by region is what each one looks like — and a plan that describes the wrong version for its ecoregion is the fastest way to draw questions from a chief appraiser. Here is what each practice means in the High Plains:

1

Habitat control

Restoring playa basins by filling pits and buffering with native grass, maintaining CRP-style native grass and forb stands for nesting and brood cover, and re-establishing shelterbelts.

2

Erosion control

Native grass buffers around playas to trap sediment, cover cropping on sandy fields, and stabilizing wind-eroded blowouts.

3

Predator control

Coyote management for pronghorn fawns, skunk and raccoon control around quail and grassland-bird nesting cover, and feral hog control along the Canadian River breaks.

4

Supplemental water

Playa restoration and protection, guzzlers on rangeland, and managing tailwater pits for waterfowl.

5

Supplemental food

Leaving grain strips of milo or corn standing for sandhill cranes and wintering waterfowl, food plots in field corners, and managing weedy fallow strips for native seed-eating birds.

6

Providing shelter

Multi-row shelterbelt planting, leaving stubble at least 12 inches tall through winter, and brush piles at field edges for quail and other ground-nesting wildlife.

7

Census counts

Winter playa waterfowl counts, spring quail call counts, mule deer spotlight or daylight herd counts, and pronghorn aerial-style ground counts.

The acreage rule across the High Plains

The ecoregion decides your species and practices. It does not decide your acreage — that comes from a second, legal map: the twelve wildlife appraisal regions of 34 TAC §9.2002. The 36 counties of the High Plains fall into 2 of them, so two counties that share every word of their practice standards can carry different minimums:

TPWD wildlife appraisal regionAcreage bandHigh Plains counties
High Plains 25–50 acres 96–98% 33 — Andrews, Armstrong, Bailey, Carson, Castro, Cochran, and 27 more
Rolling Plains 25–50 acres 96–98% 3 — Briscoe, Gray, Lipscomb

None of it applies unless the tract was reduced in size since January 1 of the preceding year. If it was, the minimum is 25–50 acres, and 1 of the 36 districts here have published the exact figure they adopted. See the county-by-county table →

Every High Plains county

36 counties, each with its appraisal district, filing calendar, and local acreage answer:

AndrewsArmstrongBaileyBriscoeCarsonCastroCochranCrosbyDallamDawsonDeaf SmithFloydGainesGrayHaleHansfordHartleyHockleyHowardHutchinsonLambLipscombLubbockLynnMartinMidlandMooreOchiltreeOldhamParmerPotterRandallShermanSwisherTerryYoakum

High Plains questions

High Plains wildlife management FAQ

What are the wildlife management intensity standards for the High Plains?
TPWD publishes Comprehensive Wildlife Management Planning Guidelines for each ecoregion, and your appraisal district measures your plan against the High Plains edition. Intensity is the part landowners underestimate: it is not enough to name a practice, you have to do it at the scale the region expects — a stated number of brush acres, water sites, nest structures or survey nights, sustained annually. The seven worked examples above are written at that scale. The practical test is whether a chief appraiser reading your plan can tell how much of each practice you committed to, and whether your records show you did it.
Which species should a High Plains wildlife management plan target?
Whatever you name, it has to be indigenous — Texas Tax Code §23.51(7) qualifies land used to sustain a breeding, migrating or wintering population of native wild animals, and that is the species test that decides qualification. In the High Plains, plans are usually built around mule deer, pronghorn, scaled quail, lesser prairie-chicken, sandhill cranes, native grassland songbirds, and wintering waterfowl on playas. Mule deer work the breaks and CRP grasslands while whitetails follow the creek systems; playa lake restoration is among the highest-value practices an appraisal district will see on a High Plains management plan. Introduced species are the common trap, so confirm every species you name in the plan is native to Texas before you file — managing for exotics (alone) earns nothing toward your three practices.
What is the minimum acreage in the High Plains?
For most tracts, none at all — an acreage test applies only where the tract was reduced in size since January 1 of the preceding year. And when it does apply, it is not the ecoregion that decides it: the 36 High Plains counties fall into 2 different TPWD wildlife appraisal regions, whose bands run 25–50 acres. 1 of the 36 districts here has published the figure they adopted; the rest have not, and their county falls back to its band. See the figure for every county.
Which counties are in the High Plains?
36 of Texas's 254: Andrews, Armstrong, Bailey, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Cochran, Crosby, Dallam, Dawson, Deaf Smith, Floyd, Gaines, Gray, Hale, Hansford, Hartley, Hockley, Howard, Hutchinson, Lamb, Lipscomb, Lubbock, Lynn, Martin, Midland, Moore, Ochiltree, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, Sherman, Swisher, Terry, Yoakum. Each has its own guide covering the appraisal district, the filing calendar, and the acreage rule as it applies there. Texas ecoregions do not follow county lines, so a county on a boundary may read as High Plains on one side and something else on the other — where a district's own guidance points elsewhere, follow the district.
Which three practices should a High Plains plan start with?
Habitat control, supplemental water, and census counts is the combination that works almost everywhere, and it works here: habitat control is where the real management happens, water is the easiest to install and photograph, and a census produces dated evidence every year without fail. In the High Plains that means restoring playa basins by filling pits and buffering with native grass, maintaining CRP-style native grass and forb stands for nesting and brood cover, and re-establishing shelterbelts. You need three of the seven each year, and you may change which three as the land changes — the requirement is three practices performed and documented, not three particular practices forever.

Statewide answers are in the full FAQ; the eligibility page covers who qualifies.

A High Plains plan, in about fifteen minutes.

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